Bring Your Parents to School Day
by Candaru
Summary: Instead of her father, Molly brings to school two other important people in her life to give demonstrations for Career Week. Unfortunately, those people are self-proclaimed criminal Giovanni and police officer Percy... who now must get along for Molly's sake. (Platonic/familial vibes only, no shipping, rated T for safety)


(A/N: For my part of an art/writing trade with anasten27 on tumblr! She requested a full fic of a prompt someone submitted in which, on "bring your parents to school day," Molly doesn't bring her dad, but Giovanni and Percy, who must get along for her sake.)

(For anyone else interested: over on epitheterasedgen I'm currently accepting art of mom!Percy as payment for an EE gen/non-ship writing, because my EE obsession is too hard right now, asdfghjkl. Completed works will be ~1000 words.)

* * *

The air in the classroom was so thick, it could've been cut by a butter knife and stirred into water.

Standing in front of a whiteboard with _"Career Week! :)"_ scrawled across it in colorful marker, Giovanni Potage addressed a roomful of children with their hands folded awkwardly on their desks.

"My job isn't always easy," he continued, not having broken from his villainous spiel once for the past twelve minutes. His voice leapt and twirled with danger, and his hands moved with flourish to embellish what he evidently thought was an engrossing tale. "In fact, it rarely is. One wrong move and it could mean danger for me and my boys! Another wrong move and it could mean… the end."

He whipped his face behind his cape, then peeked back out as one kid wearing a red panda shirt raised his hand.

"Yes, little boy?"

"Have you ever gotten caught?" the boy asked, his voice high and obnoxious.

The other kids in the classroom all looked his way, then at each other. All of them avoided looking up to the front.

"Why, it's funny you should ask!" Giovanni exclaimed, thrilled someone was showing interest. "I have, in fact, never been captured. And as the best villainous leader of my faithful minions, I've also managed to keep all of them safe, as well."

About a foot from Giovanni, a small girl with fluffy brown hair coughed. "Um…" she managed uneasily.

"Why, yes, Bear Trap?" Giovanni asked, smiling and patting the girl on her shoulder. "What is it? Remember, if you want something, you have to speak up."

"Well… there WAS that time in the museum some of the others got knocked out, and Indus kind of captured us…" She smiled wobbly, as if worried the older man— if he even qualified as that; it was hard to tell his age— might get mad at her.

"Oh, THAT!" he laughed jovially. "Silly Bear Trap. It doesn't count if you get captured and then freed again. A-duh."

"So you broke out of prison?" the red-shirted kid piped up from his seat. "Cool!"

"He did _not,_" a new, commanding voice interrupted, "break out of _prison._"

The kid shut up immediately as every child in the classroom jerked their heads to the front, unable to avoid looking at the source of the tension any longer.

For, along with Giovanni Potage and the young Molly Blyndeff, one more figure stood in front of the whiteboard. A figure dressed entirely in blue, with her arms folded firmly across her chest and a glare that looked like it could pierce through a barrier.

"M-Mrs. King," the teacher (who was huddled by the desk in a rather awkward position) managed to stammer out. "I suppose you'd like to take a moment to talk about your job, now…?"

"It's Miss," the cop corrected dryly. "And yes, I would."

The children audibly tried to contain their excitement as the policewoman stepped forward, glaring daggers at the self-proclaimed villain who stood only a few feet away. One of the kids in the back row slipped a dollar bill to the one next to him.

"My name," the cop addressed formally, "is Percival King. I work as a police Detective for our wonderful Sweet Jazz City police department." A small smile graced her lips for the first time since she'd arrived, but it quickly faded as she looked back to Giovanni. "My job is to catch criminals like _this_ one—"

Everyone in the classroom tensed up, as if she might spring on the pink-haired man any moment.

"—and send them off to jail."

Giovanni stuck out his tongue, and Percival clenched her hands. Stepping between them, Molly quickly piped up, in a shaky, squeaky voice, "Except not right now, because you're off the clock and Giovanni's not actually doing anything bad right now and he's helping me give a demonstration for career week, remember?"

After another moment of tension, Percy grimaced and forced her gaze away from the villain that was obviously taunting her. "...Right."

There was an audible release as the classroom full of children realized there would be no police chase through the school hallways, at least not during their presentation. The kids in the back exchanged another dollar.

"Lots of people think working in the police force is a job of constant danger," Percival went on, evidently deciding to ignore the other in favor of her own little speech. "However, my daily routine consists largely of paperwork and meetings with ordinary citizens."

Then she smiled slightly and put a hand to her chest. "And, occasionally, I perform civic duties such as coming to schools like this one, and giving presentations so that you can all see your potential bright futures working with the police force."

The kid with the red panda shirt— apparently the only kid who was either brave or stupid enough to talk to either of the adults Molly Blyndeff had brought instead of her parents— raised his hand again.

"Didn't you just say working at the police station is boring?" he piped up.

A few of the kids winced, clearly expecting the cop to get angry, but instead she just smiled and shook her head.

"Far from it! I very much enjoy menial labor, as it happens, and it's always pleasant to converse with the people of Sweet Jazz City while I'm patrolling on the beat. Besides, I do certainly have my moments of excitement…" Her gaze suddenly trained itself back on Giovanni. "Such as running into this rapscallion trying to rob the museum."

"Wait, YOU were there for that, too?!" a different girl from the side of the class shrieked.

And then all chaos broke loose, as the kids deemed it safe to ask questions and all started shouting at the two adults at the front of the class at once.

"Did you fight?!"

"Was Molly with him?"

"Did MOLLY fight?!"

"Can you shoot a gun?"

"What happened to Giovanni's necklace?"

The yelling grew louder and louder as each kid tried to make their question heard, while Percival and Giovanni looked ready to strangle each other at a moment's notice.

"Guys… too… LOUD!"

A bubble of color suddenly formed around the three people at the front of the classroom as Molly activated her epithet, blocking out all the noise from around them. The kids knew what this meant, and slowly their questioning ceased, knowing it was pointless to try to get through to the adults in the bubble.

"That's better," Molly sighed quietly, lowering the guard bubble down.

"Well, this has certainly been an… entertaining joint presentation, don't you think?" the teacher piped up to the class, looking just about ready to break. "Unfortunately, we're just about out of time here, so…"

"No problemo!" Giovanni interrupted. "One of the most important tools in a pro villain's arsenic—"

"Arsenal," Molly corrected quietly.

"—right, that— is being able to disappear at a moment's notice. Such as with… THE FOG OF LOST SOULS!"

Right on cue, a thick, soupy smoke filled the air, causing some of the children to cry in alarm and others to cheer. Percival started to shout something that sounded like a threat, but before it was over, the fog had already cleared, and Giovanni had disappeared without a trace.

There was a moment of silence, and then the classroom burst into applause.

"W-w-well, th-then," the teacher stammered. "M-Miss King, if you could fill out these sheets for me b-before you g-go…?"

The policewoman sighed, walked over, and took the papers. "Of course," she said politely. "Molly, I'll be back to pick you up at the end of school, okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks," Molly mumbled, by now visibly blushing from all the attention.

But as she returned to her seat, Percy walked out the door, and the teacher tried to wrangle the kids back into the mindset of a normal school day, Molly had to admit: it was probably the best Career Day presentation her 'family' had ever given.

Way better than making toys.


End file.
